4-18-25 - 8am - Iran Uranium

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
About this is your favorite junior, and I just want
to take some time to say Hack used to help
my Christian by their sissisters.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
So Hockey, you see, we have a very blessed we
can thank you, and you too, Dreggony, thank you and
thank you, thank you for that.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
So we get a little controversy brewing within the the administration,
and it's a it's a controversy that I find pretty fascinating.
And I'm not quite sure who's going to win this one,
whether it's going to be well, I'm not sure whether

(00:48):
it's going to be the Pentagon or the White House.
Israel had planned to strike Iranian nuke sites as soon
as next month. That got waived off by President Trump
in recent weeks in favor of trying to negotiate a

(01:08):
deal with Tehran in order to limit its nuclear program.
All according to official administration officials and others that have
been briefed on all these discussions. So let's walk through
what the controversy is.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
And I.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Ultimately want to hear what you think about this, because
I honestly have not come down on one side or
the other yet, which is pretty rare for me because
I get both sides of the argument here. I will

(01:49):
say this. As I walk through this, you will see
that I think what's going on is, hey, let's try
and negotiateations first, even though Trump's already issued an ultimadium
to the Mullas. And then if the negotiations don't work,

(02:09):
you can resurrect your ultimatum, and then we can give
the green light to Israel or to ourselves, and we'll
go the Iranian nuclear program. So let's start with Steve White.
But kaff the man who is in charge of all
these negotiations here, he is a week ago talking to

(02:34):
the Wall Street Journal. He says, I think our position
begins with dismantlement of your program, the Iranians program. That
is our position today. He said that, summing up his
message to the Iranians. He continued, that doesn't mean, by
the way, that at the margin, we're not going to

(02:56):
find other ways to find compromise between two countries. And
he added, where our red line will be there can't
be weaponization of your nuclear capability, all right. So that's
on April eleven, three days later, he says this to

(03:19):
Fox News. The President means what he says, which is
Iran cannot have a bomb. That was Monday Iran. He says,
does not need to enrich past three point sixty seven percent. Now,
I did a little digging into that three point sixty
seven percent. That's how much enriched uranium they're allowed to

(03:45):
get under this existing JCPOA, the original agreement with Obama.
But three point sixty seven percent is a significant amount
because you can within I think, if I recall today,
I didn't put it in my notes, If I recall
what I read yesterday, the three point sixty seven percent

(04:08):
can be further enriched within seven days, which would give
you enough to create X number of nuclear weapons. Now,
in some circumstances, the Uranians are at sixty percent, and
other circumstances they're at twenty percent, and that cannot be Now,
I don't know what he means by the sixty in

(04:29):
some circumstances and twenty percent in some other circumstances. I
just understand the three points sixty seven percent because that
comes from the original agreement. But he continued, and again,
this is this is from Fox News on Monday. You
do not need to run, as they claim, a civil
nuclear program where you're enriching past three point sixty seven percent.

(04:52):
So then he went on to talk about how in
the next round of talks with Iran they're going to
focus on quote, verification on the en richment program, and
then ultimately verification on weaponization. And he says that includes missiles,
the types of missiles that they have been stockpiling, and
it includes the.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Trigger for the bombs.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
We're here to see if we can solve this situation
diplomatically and with dialogue. The first meeting, he says, was positive, constructive,
and compelling. Well, then I'm beginning to find out, and
i haven't jumped to the pentagon yet, but I'm beginning
to discover that maybe it's not so compelling. After all,

(05:35):
it's not so compelling that Whitcoff wasn't forced to move
the goalpost again, because a day after the interview on
Fox he moves the goal again. This is all happening
this week.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
He says, a.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
Deal with Iran will only be completed if it is
a Trump deal. Any final arrangement must set a framework
for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East, meaning
that this is him talking still. Iran must stop and
eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program. It is imperative

(06:12):
for the world that we create a tough, fair deal
that will endure, and that is what President Trump has
asked me to do. Are you confused yet, because reading
through all of that and reading through all the quotes
from Monday, Tuesday through Wednesday, are we negotiating? And does
the ultimatum still exist?

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Now?

Speaker 3 (06:37):
When you're negotiating peace in Ukraine, you're negotiating peace in Gaza,
you're negotiating peace in Iran. I understand the details can
get a little fuzzy. So we ought to cut Whitkough
some slack because he is a consummant negotiating and I
think he is probably the ideal guy to be doing this.

(06:59):
And even The New York Times made clear this week
that Trump does not want Iran to a rich enriched
uranium beyond three point sixty seven percent. But The New
York Times also points out that Trump does not want
to help bomb Iran back to the Stone Age either,

(07:20):
So what does Trump want? Elliott Abrams, one of the
negotiators for Obama, says that the Iran deal was one
of the worst and most one sided transactions of the
United States has ever entered into I'm sorry that that's Trump.

(07:48):
But Elliott says that everybody can agree that the JCPOA,
the deal done with Obama was a horrible deal, and
Trump's said that it did enrich the Iranian regime, and
he also agrees with that. So now I'm really confused.
So the guy that originally negotiated the deal, now it

(08:11):
comes back and says, YEA, Trump was right, it's a
horrible deal. We didn't come clean about our previous about
their previous nuclear weapons activity, and I agree with that.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
So were you lying? Then? Are you lying now?

Speaker 3 (08:28):
So on both sides of the political spectrum, people are
beginning to get really fuzzy on what's going on here.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
So what was the Trump position? We need a.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
Deal in which Iran never gets an ICBM, cease developing
any nuclear capable missiles, stop proliferating ballistic missiles to others,
sees its support for terrorists, extremists, and the regional proxy
such as has Blahamas, Taliban, al Qaeda, Whothi's everybody else.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
It's quite a list, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
So if that has been Trump and his position all
the way up until sometime starting money of this week,
what is it the Trump two point oh ones. Does
he want any of those things or just from what
Whitkoff has been burbling to the New York Times and

(09:26):
the Fox News and everybody else, the Wall Street Journal.
If the aim is to limit Iranian enrichment, well, I
guess people would agree that it did limit that to
some degree, to three point sixty seven percent. Although that
is in of itself a limitation, it's a horrible limitation.
If the aim is to bribe the Iranians for that

(09:49):
gift with reduced sanctions, well, the original Obama agreement, the
original JCPOWA did that too. If the aim is to
weaken Iran support for Terrance, well, Israeli defense forces did
that and we're doing it now with the Hoothies. So
it seems clear that whit Coff's opening play with the

(10:13):
Iranians last week must have gotten him slapped down by
the White House. And that's where it starts to get interesting.
There was a principal's meeting, the Secretary of Defense, Tulcy Gabbert,
White House chief of Staff, the President, and the Vice President,

(10:35):
pretty much everybody that's everybody that would be making the
kind of decision about what we're gonna do with the Iranians.
The only person that I can't find or confirm that
was in that principal's meeting is the Secretary of State
Marco Rubio, which I guess maybe Rubio handed off to Whitkoff,
and Whitcoff was there. I don't know, so I can't
say for sure whether he was there or not. But

(11:02):
if the White House line is the bottom line, then
it's unclear what the Iranians and Whitcouf are discussing. I
don't think there's a chance in hell that the Islamic
Republic is going to give up as enrichment. I just
don't think, no matter what kind of negotiations, I don't
think they're going to do that, Which gets us back

(11:25):
to Trump's original Trump one point oh ultimatum and is
Trump two point oh ultimatum, which is, you stop developing
a nuclear weapon. We're not going to let you get it,
and wink wink, will give the okay to the Israelis,
who've already taken out the Iranian Air Force. You want
to now take out their nuclear capabilities. Well, now you

(11:45):
can go do that too, But remember Iran's nuclear weapons
program is a backstop sure, it's about pushing plans for
regional hegemony in the Middle East. Control the Iranians, that's
their ultimate goal. But actually their nuclear weapons program is

(12:06):
more important as an insurance policy to protect themselves from
US and the Israelis. Would the Israelis have raised an
attack on Iran with Donald Trump if the Ayatolas were
already producing nuclear weapons? For example, ask yourself this question.

(12:31):
Would could Offfie still be Libya's dictator if it had
not given up his own weapons program? What about Ukraine?
Would it be contending with Vladimir Putin's war if keV
hadn't relinquished its nucular weapons at the end of the
Cold War. So maybe, just maybe, maybe we're maybe we're
being played, or maybe the Iranians are being played, or

(12:54):
maybe all of us are being played by Trump here.
And maybe maybe Trump wants to make sure that he's
done everything to give diplomacy a chance before he joins
with the Israelis in a strike on Iran. Maybe that's
why he has moved another carrier battle group into the region.

(13:15):
Maybe that's why there are now be two bombers at
Diego Garcia. Maybe I don't know, but now let's jump
back over to the Pentagon for a moment, because this
is where it gets interesting. In the past two days,
there have been three senior Defense Department officials that have
been suspended and was resigned, and somehow their departures are

(13:39):
connected to an internal investigation into unauthorized disclosures of national
security information. Tuesday, Dan Caldwell, who works closely with the
deaf sec pete Hegsen Darren Selnik, the Defense Department's deputy
chief of staff. They were physically escorted from their office

(14:04):
by armed guards. Then yesterday Thursday, Colling Carroll, chief of
staff to the Deputy sect Death Stephen Feinberg was ousted.
Two then John Ulliot, a top Pentagon spokesman, and as well,
I'm going to resign.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
Of All of these people are military veterans.

Speaker 3 (14:28):
Now, Caldwell was involved in Signal Gate, as Hegesa's nominated
principle in that group. He was on the group chat
about the strikes on the Hoothies. But nobody was fired
over Signal Gate, at least not officially, but Trump has
been demanding that head's roll over a series of other

(14:49):
sensitive leaks emanating from the Pentagon, including operational plans about
the Panama Canal, information about deployment of the second aircraft
carriers of the Weds to the Red Sea, information about
Elon Musk's visit to the Pentagon to discuss China, and
then a pause in the collection of intelligence concerning the

(15:10):
Ukraine War and the dissemination of that intelligence to the Ukrainians.
But now insiders are beginning to join the dots between
the route of hegsa's top team and recent internal struggles
visa the Iran. A more ardently pro Israel side, including

(15:35):
the Secretary of State Margo Rubio, national Security Advisor Mike Waltz,
and General Michael Carilla, the head of the US Central Command,
have all reportedly pushed for the United States to offer
extensive operational support to the IDF, perhaps even using six
B two stealth bombers that have already been deployed to

(15:58):
our base on Diego Garcia. So with the White House's authorization,
Corilla has also been moving US aircraft carriers into the
Red Sea. But go back again to the New York Times,
which I know I read with skepticism.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Trump remember he.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
Met with Benjamin Netting Yahoo last week waved off an
Israeli proposal to set Iran's nuclear ambitions back at least
three you know, at least for a year through tactical
bombing campaigns. Trump instead chose to pursue a now or
never diplomatic path, which is why Steve Whitkoff, as I

(16:38):
just told you earlier, has been an oman talking to
the Iranian foreign Minister and has been doing these kind
of herky jerky motions of saying one thing and then
backing off from, and then saying it again and backing
off from and again to the New York Times, on
the Wall Street journalist, Fox News, and everybody else that
will listen to him. Now if in Trump one point zero,

(17:03):
Trump liked to play the Hawks and the Doves off
against each other, particularly when it came to overseas wars.
But he still wants to be remembered as a peace president.
So as you watch all these things unfold between the
Pentagon and the White House, I think that's what's going on.
And I think Susie Whitkoff, I think JD. Vance, and

(17:24):
I think Tolcy Gabbert have all convinced Trump to back
off the go ahead for the Israelis to bomb the
Iranians while he tries some diplomacy where it ends well.

Speaker 4 (17:38):
I hope that you're right about the Logan Act. I
think Trump's got the gloves off. He's taken Letitia James out.
He should be in jail. I think the Senator from
Maryland and that judge, if there's any way they can
get them, he's gonna hammer them too. And I'm loving it.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
It's the reason I do the story they did the
story about the Iranian negotiations is it shows that ultimately,
I mean, we're not even well, we'll be what January, February, March,
it will be ninety days into the administration.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
What by Sunday Easter. Uh.

Speaker 3 (18:27):
There had to be some at some point, some clash
between the uh, the Reagan Maga group and the Maga
Maga group. I guess you could call them inside the administration.
And I really don't have a problem with that as
long as Trump. What I find fascinating about it is

(18:51):
Trump does not want them to have nuclear weapons. He
knows that the JCPOA that original agreement you know, in
which we flew billions of dollars over to them. It
was a horribly bad deal and it allowed them to
enrich at least three point sixty seven percent of whatever
it is group of uranium that they could go ahead

(19:13):
and enrich, which is enough to start building a bomb,
which is absurd, totally absurd. But you have, I mean,
the Middle East right now is and I think this
is where Trump is trying to tread carefully. Let's first

(19:35):
focus on the Middle East. We're finally getting the Red
Sea and the Suez Canal and all those shipping lanes
opened back up. By doing what by doing the exact
opposite of what Joe Biden was doing, who was they
would lob a missile at US, We would take out
the missile, We would not take out the launch site,

(20:00):
we wouldn't take out the leadership. Now, doing that runs
a risk that you could escalate that war. But and
the Houthis have been known to be as stubborn as
the Taliban or any other groups in Afghanistan that drove
out the Russians and eventually under Biden drove US out

(20:24):
of Afghanistan and caused US with that horrific withdrawal that
killed those soldiers. So Trump is doing I think the
minimal amount that I think any rational president would have
done Is. You don't take out the missile that's coming
at you. Well, I mean, obviously you do take that out,

(20:45):
but that's not where you stop. You take out the
missile launcher, and you take out the AMMO depots, and
you take out the ships that are bringing the AMMO
to the Houthis in Yemen, so you can keep them
from attacking your ships. I think with regard to Gaza

(21:05):
Hamas and the Israelis, I think they're still trying to
do what they can to get Americans out of there,
and they've given the wink in the nod to the
IDEF and the then Yahoo, you go do what you
need to do. There's enough going on in the rest
of the world right now that there's not a lot
of attention being paid to that while the Israelis do

(21:26):
what they need to do to get complete utter control
of Hamas and to completely obliterate them. They don't have
enough money right now. We've cut off all their supplies,
we've cut off all of their funding and everything else
that right now they can't even pay the soldiers, so
all their troops are being decimated. And that's just quietly

(21:46):
being done without anything other than us giving them the wink,
go ahead and do it with respect to the Iranians,
that's something that why don't we just negotiate for a while,
deliver the ultimatum which he did in He did that
in the letter they sent to the Molas that he

(22:08):
sent to the Iyahtola and said, look, you're not going
to get a bomb. I'm not going to allow you
to get a bomb. Let's sit down, Let's have some negotiations,
Let's talk. I think this is Trump two point zero.
Let's see if we can't without just bombing the hell
out of everybody. Why can't we just see if we
can't reach agreements at the same time that you present

(22:30):
yourself which is why I say it's the Reagan magacide
of the White House, that you present yourself as just
crazy enough, because they thought Ronald Reagan was crazy, just
crazy enough that he may bomb the crap out of
us if we don't sit down and negotiate. Doesn't mean
they will, and it means that he may ultimately have
to fulfill that threat of actually either assisting or saying

(22:58):
to the IDEF is really defense forces. Yeah, you can
go ahead and go take them out. We'll give you cover.
You go take them out. At the same time that's
going on. What's he doing between Russia and Ukraine. He's
trying to negotiate with Putin, but Putin keeps blowing them off,
and Rubio came out. I don't have the exact quote

(23:19):
in front of them because I didn't intend to go
down this path right now, but Rubio has come out
and said something to the effect that, yeah, uh, we're
being pushed aside, We're being ignored. He's not making any movement,
and we'll have to realign and kind of reconfigure what

(23:40):
we're going to do if he refuses to negotiate, which
means that Trump may have to actually start re arming
or telling NATO they've got to start doing something. I've
got a story I haven't gotten to you yet, but
you know, there is a country in NATO that has
put troops on the ground in Ukraine, and the Russians
said those are now legitimate targets. So of course you

(24:03):
would still want to try to negotiate.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
Now.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
I haven't even gotten to the Endo Pacific yet. You
get to the Endo Pacific, and right now we've gotten intelligence.
I've seen the photos of where the Chinese have developed.
You know, remember dragon, We couldn't build the bridge the
war for whatever it was to get the food into
Gaza because it kept falling apart and the storms would

(24:27):
tear it up.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
And the truckloading pier. Yeah, yeah, that pier. We could
even build a peer. I guess what China's done.

Speaker 3 (24:34):
China has built a some sort of I'm not going
to call it a pontoon because it's not a pondoom bridge,
but China has developed a floating bridge system that they
can take right up to any of their carriers and
drop it off on Taiwan, on a Taiwan beach and

(24:55):
just start unloading ships, just start the invasion offshore, because
it's hard to get the ship close enough to the
to the because of the way the Taiwan's Taiwan's straight
is geographically situated to get them close enough to to
really do a physical rate. Well, they've now developed a
bridge in which they can do that. So China is

(25:16):
and and their economy sucks. So China is in really
dire straits right now, and Trump's putting the pressure on
them economically. Now, let's just say, for the sake of argument,
that all of this goes to crap, that nothing works.
The Hoothies keep fighting, the Iranians keep sending missiles to Yemen.

(25:40):
The Iranians say, screw you, We're not going to negotiate.
At some point, Trump gives the go ahead to the Israelis,
We'll go ahead and take out their nuclear sites. And
we say to NATO or we even help NATO. Okay,
Russia won't negotiate, so here, full bore, We're going to

(26:02):
go all in in Ukraine. And China decides, hey, we
got this new technology and they're all busy over here
on the other side of the world, Let's go invade
Taiwan and boom there we are.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
World War three.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
So while there is this battle going on inside, the
National Security Team, which includes the Defense Department and the
Intel agencies, and obviously the Vice President and the Chief
of Staff, all of them are trying to convince Trump,
I believe, to keep the negotiations going on as long
as possible in hopes that some of them start to

(26:39):
break through, because the alternative is world War three. At
the same time that Trump's trying to realign the entire
international trade framework, which would further isolate China and invert
our trade deficit with China and bring back and re

(27:01):
establish US as a at least partial manufacturing stronghold in
the world's economy. My god, there's more on this man's
plate in the first three months of his administration than
I think any president in my lifetime, any president. Yeah,

(27:22):
Kennedy had the Cuban missile crisis, shut that down pretty quickly,
still had the Cold War. But then Reagan comes along
and what Reagan brings that to an end, but in
the process of doing so, brings us pretty close to
the Soviet Union, deciding yum, maybe we're just gonna take

(27:43):
you on somewhere, and the unfortunately Gorbechrov comes along and
we start to get things worked out. Leather rent repeat,
and here we are again. And I think what Trump
is trying to do is to keep all these balls
in the air because he knows that all of these
changes have to be made. But if you go with

(28:07):
the crazy Trump, I'm just gonna bomb the feces out
of you if you don't agree to a deal. He knows,
and at least his staff has enough influence to say, hey,
let's negotiate for a little while longer. Let's you know,
put stringing us out. Well, let's lay the low down
with him. We got we don't. But NATO has troops

(28:31):
on the ground. Now, I shouldn't say NATO troops. Europe
has some troops on the ground in Ukraine. So all
of it's all these chess pieces are moving little by little,
bit by bit, and if any of those chess pieces
just happens to read a reach a checkmate that we

(28:51):
don't see right now because it's a it's not a
regular game of chess. This is a new game of
chess in which computers have not analyzed all of the
brazilion of moves that can be made. Any one of
them could be bingo. Here we go. Speaking of China,

(29:14):
the CIA director brands China as the greatest historical adversary
and the strongest priority threat to the country.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Right now, that's next, Mike.

Speaker 5 (29:27):
I recently saw a meme that basically stated that trump
wife Malaya became a citizen after their son barn was born. Therefore,
if Trump gets his way, well, his own son would
not be a citizen.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
Really, I can't get my head around that, because that
would mean the court would have to retroactively apply their ruling,
and I'm not sure the court would do that. I

(30:10):
need to think about that one. But it's a meme,
so if it's a mean, it must be true, must
be true, it must be true. Yeah, So I'll spend
all weekend. If you could just like take a photo
of the meme and send it to me, Michael brand
adiheartmedia dot com. I'll spend my entire weekend researching the meme.

Speaker 6 (30:27):
Well, you've got a three hour show tomorrow, so that
you could do it talk about it that the entire
entire time.

Speaker 3 (30:34):
I could. I can just spend three hours talking about
that meme, yeah, you know. Or I could just go
record thirty minutes of the meme and just have them
repeat that six times.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
Do that?

Speaker 3 (30:48):
You be number ninety two twenty four Mike one. If
somebody sells the Iranians of nuke, well, who would do that?

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (30:56):
The Rouskies? The are the Chinese? Fifty four to thirty one, Mike.
I'll bet you a steak dinner that the Supreme Court
decides correctly on birthright citizenship, Colorado will pass the law
to keep any changes from being enforced. Why would I
take that bet? I'm surprising I haven't tried to do
it already. Twenty six twenty nine. Find this picture of

(31:19):
Garcia and a certain politician in a meeting together. I'm
curious if that's a prison cafeteria, looks like a restaurant personally,
That's what I was trying to describe. When I first
danced at the photo, it looked like wineglasses, and then
I realized, oh, it's it's water in the glasses. And
then they got a couple of lattes, and then he's
got a water bottle next to him, and it's a

(31:41):
nice parquet type tabletop. And yet it looks like a restaurant.
And if that's the cafeteria, you talk about it. First
of all, you know that was a photo op. You
know that behind the camera there were prison guards that
had automatic weapons, probably aimed at at well, both the

(32:01):
Senadrahm and Garcia seventy one eighty three, Mike. The good
from all this noise is that people are learning that
judges are political. Many have held a false belief that
judges are an independent, freethinking force for pure justice based
in law. Well they're not, like just sworn they were.

(32:24):
I'm shocked by this real quick.

Speaker 6 (32:26):
I'll jump back to the Garcia photo if you want
to go see that. It's that, Michael says, go here
dot com.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
So did you look at it and wonder like, where
the hell is that picture taken?

Speaker 6 (32:34):
I mean he's in like a regular little plaid shirt
and a baseball cap and unlike any prison outfit I've
ever seen here in the United States, let alone a
foreign country.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
Well that's the new MS thirteen garb ah. Yes, yes, see,
that's what it is.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
CIA Director Ratcliffe has declared that China is the agency's
number one priority. He did this in an internal memo
to the staff. It's been shared by Senior, of course,
and it outlines his concerns about the Chinese Communist Party,
describing it as an unprecedented adversary seeking to challenge the

(33:10):
United States on economic, military, and technological fronts. He pointed
the importance of technology, highlighting areas like AI and quantum
computing as crucial to the future of our national security.
No adversary, he said, in the history of our nation,

(33:31):
has presented a more formidable challenge, or a more capable
strategic competitor, than the Chinese Communist Party. And yet we
all keep looking to Europe. We need to look the
other direction.